Edible Menorah with Butter Candles

I often think that my brain doesn’t work like most peoples.  When people talk about thinking outside the box I say “what box”.  It probably has something to do with my later in life diagnosed ADD/ADHD, but I just don’t look at the world like “normal” people do.  If there’s a cool food thing that someone’s created I say “cool, but now what can we make that into”?  That’s how I came up with the idea of an Edible Menorah with Butter Candles.An Edible Menorah with Butter Candles is an aromatic, flavor packed, gorgeous consumable Chanukah centerpiece that will wow your friends and family.  It’s totally unique, easy to make and I guarantee you’ll be the host with the most with this completely faboulous edible Chanukah symbol on your table.

Coming up with the Edible Menorah with Butter Candles

A long time ago, Dear Social Media Guy sent me a video of a super large looking rustic bread with a huge butter candle in the center.  What someone had done was melt butter, put a wick in the middle of a round container, let it set in the fridge, cut out a big hole in the center of said rustic bread, placed the set “butter candle” in the middle of the bread, cut “slices” in the bread and then when the butter was melting people would grab a slice of the rustic bread and dip it into the melting butter from the candle.Super cool.I was never doing it.  

It has to do with being an Observant Jewish person

The reason why I was never going to make that cool looking bread was because I’m usually cooking fabulous and cool meals for Shabbat or Jewish Holidays.  Weekday dinners are always simpler, quicker and don’t include a lot of butter. 

Making a flaming bread dish wasn’t going to work for Shabbat.

First, because as an observant Jewish person, I don’t light flames on Shabbat or extinguish them.  This would make the whole concept of a lit bread incredibly complicated.  I could theoretically light the butter candle before Shabbat, but then I couldn’t extinguish it when the butter was all melted – risking the rustic bread of flaming death.Second, in our family, Shabbat meals are always of the meat gender and as observant Jewish person milk and meat are not eaten together as part of the laws of Kashrut.

So…I was never going to make the cool looking Rustic Bread with a Butter Candle.

Until now.

The paradigm shift to the Edible Menorah with Butter Candles

As I stated previously, I’m not a box type person.  When thinking about cool recipes I could make for Chanukah I thought about the whole bread and candle butter concept.What if the bread was smaller, baked together (or not), and the actual menorah candles were the butter candles.  What if, when you were done lighting the menorah and the candles burned out (or were blown out) you could then eat the whole menorah???!!!!

Making the Edible Menorah with Butter Candles

The trick here was going to be finding the right sized tools and stuff to make the Edible Menorah and Butter Candles.  

The “Candle” Molds

The original recipe used a huge tub of butter with a single wick in the center.  Obviously that wasn’t going to work here.  I had a few ideas, one worked way better than the others.

Making the candle in the shape of an actual candle.

I went on Amazon and found the widest candles I could find – around 1/2-inch in diameter.  They had to be paper because I wanted to peel away the paper once the candle was set.  This was great in theory but not in practice.  I placed a cut segment of the straw in a cup, set a wick (more about that later) in the straw and poured melted butter into the straw.  I’m not sure why I didn’t realize it immediately but the butter ran out the bottom of the straw.  I know.  Should have seen that one coming.  In my weak defense, I thought that the straw might actually create a seal with the bottom of the cup.  It didn’t.Moving on…Then I folded the bottom of the straw and taped it closed.  That worked better but the final candle wasn’t all that thick.This was a “great in theory but not in practice” moment.

Making the candle more of a “tea light” type candle

This method worked way better and ultimately ended up being the ultimate solution.   I used one ounce plastic shot glasses for the molds.  As long as the butter was slightly cooled then there was no problem with the cups melting.  The trick was taping the wick between two pieces of thinner clear tape to keep it centered.   

It also made beautiful rivulets of melted butter and burned for more than 30 minutes.  

Perfect.

The wicks

I went online to Amazon to find wicks that could be used for the butter candles.  I had a few concerns about using waxed wicks.  First, I didn’t want to have wax in the melted butter and second I didn’t know what the wax was actually made of and had kashrut concerns.  Crazy right?I found a roll of plain, uncoated cotton wick and was able to cut the pieces to the exact size I was looking for.  Perfect.

The Butter Candles

Making the butter candles was fairly uncomplicated.  The idea is to melt the butter (I used 30 second increments in the microwave) so that it’s all melted enough to pour, but not boiling or super hot, and whisked so it’s completely blended. 

I tried making the butter candles using herbed and plain salted butter.  While you can use a small amount of herbs in the candles for more flavor I wouldn’t add more than a drop.  I found the candles didn’t solidify as well as I would have liked with the herbs, and the herbs tended to scorch a little making the rolls look burnt.

After forming the liquid candles I put them in the freezer to set for around 30 minutes.  After that I carefully cut away the tape and used a sharp paring knife to separate the candles from the cup, immediately placing them in the bread menorah spaces.

The Menorah itself

The original menorahs I made were actually created from glutenous bread.  Because it would be easier to work with, I started with that.  I figured that if the whole project would work with glutenous bread (which is more easily obtainable and way cheaper than gluten-free bread) it would be an easy transition to make it using gluten-free bread/rolls.  The concept does work well with gluten-free rolls as easily as glutenous ones.

Baking the rolls from scratch(ish)

In a pinch, I love to purchase Rhodes brand rolls.  They come in the freezer section of the store and all you have to do is defrost, egg and bake them for perfect-every-time glutenous rolls.  I bought two different sizes of rolls as I wasn’t sure which would work the best.With some of the rolls I baked nine rolls closely together so they would bake attached in one long strip, and others I baked separated.  Once baked I added an additional roll on top of the center one with toothpicks to represent the “shammash” candle.

Buying Challah knots from the bakery

I also bought mini challah knots from the bakery, thinking that those would be super pretty as candle holders.  They were really gorgeous and I recommend making gluten-free challah knots if you’re going to bake them from scratch for the menorah.  It’s extra beautiful.

Cutting out the “Candle Holder” spaces

I used a sharp paring knife to cut out holes that were approximately the size of the “candles” that were going into the menorah.  It’s important that the holes aren’t a lot smaller or larger than the butter candles because you want them to fit fairly securely into the rolls.

Is the Edible Menorah with Butter Candles a Kosher menorah?

There’s a “game” I like to play called “Stump the Rabbi”.  It’s loads of fun.  I don’t play with the intent purpose of actually stumping the Rabbi but when I do it brings me loads of joy.It occured to me that the Edible Menorah might in fact be a Kosher Chanukah Menorah.  A Kosher Menorah is one that you can light and say the Chanukah Blessings on. One of the requirements of a Kosher Chanukah Menorah is that the flame has to last more than 30 minutes.  Given the fact that I used the “tea light” candle method for making the butter candles, they do burn for more than 30 minutes if not extinguished. I know because I timed it.

Asking the Rabbi(s) a Shaylah (halachic/torah law question)

First I called my Local Orthodox Rabbi.  He’s the Rabbi I call for my everyday questions like “I accidentally bought dairy seasoning and used it in my chicken.  What do I do?”  (Of course that never happened…).

I called him, curious if there was any reason that my Edible Menorah wouldn’t be considered a Kosher menorah?  

Rabbi #1: Stumped.

He couldn’t think of a reason why it wouldn’t be acceptable but then again his gut reaction was that it wasn’t.  He decided to defer to Rabbi Reiss, the Av Beis Din of the Chicago Rabbinical Council.

He’s extraordinarily knowledgeable and aside from being a super nice gentleman, he’s extremely wise in Torah and Torah Law.

I called Rabbi Reiss.

After some discussion about whether or not the actual Edible Menorah was considered a “holy object” in and of itself, and therefore shouldn’t be eaten, and a discussion about whether “Ein lanu rishus lihishtamesh bahem”  (we’re not allowed to utilize the light of the menorah while it’s burning), and several days of contemplation and studying about it on his part, he confessed that he was 90% sure that it was probably fine, but he was deferring to Rabbi Fuerst* claiming (with a big grin on his face) that he didn’t want to get into a fight with the Agudah over this matter.   Ha!

Rabbi #2: A little Stumped

I called Rabbi Fuerst.

Sadly he’s not available until later so I didn’t get to talk to him…yet.

Bottom line – I am not, and never will be a Rabbi.  I do not have sufficient Torah knowledge to be able to judge for you or tell you what is halachicly acceptable.

So…regarding whether the Edible Menorah with Butter Candles can be, according to Jewish Tradition, be considered a Kosher menorah…ask your local Rabbi.

Regardless, of what you decide…it’s a gorgeous, fun and delicious Chanukah Menorah!

Here’s the Recipe For Edible Chanukah Menorah with Butter Candles

As with most of my Kosher Everyday recipes, feel free to make this one your own.  You can make the rolls using any of my Gluten Free Challah recipes – the Water Oat Challah would be especially delicious here.  Gluten Free Dinner Rolls would also work well – the choice is completely yours.  The key is to have 10 rolls total with 8 for the side candles of the menorah and a double high (2 rolls) for the center.  Make sure to post pictures and tag @koshereveryday when you do!  Can’t wait to see your Edible Menorah creations!

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*“Rabbi Shmuel Fuerst is a talmid of Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”’l and received semicha from Reb Moshe on daled chelkie Shulchan Aruch. Currently he is the Rav of Agudas Yisrael of Peterson Park in Chicago and had been the Dayan of Agudath Israel of Illinois for over 40 years. He is also a Senior Advisor of the Midwest Council of Agudas Yisrael and is the head of the Midwest Bais Haraah where he answers Halachic inquiries from all over the world.” (Torah Anytime)